


Blue As Their Lekku

by violasarecool



Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, Mandalorian Culture, Nonbinary Character, post kotor 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 08:25:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17577335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: Canderous hasn't seen Ahsalin since they disappeared into the unknown regions almost nine years ago. After all this time, he wasn't exactly expecting a surprise visitor on Dxun.





	Blue As Their Lekku

**Author's Note:**

> my revan, ahsalin is a blue twi'lek

An unidentified ship entered Dxun's atmosphere early in the afternoon.

"Mandalore," the woman on duty said, her focus on the monitor. "It's transmitting some kind of code, but not one that I've ever seen."

Canderous strode over to the screen, staring at the string of numbers. _Revan._ "Let it land."

"As you say, Mandalore."

He went out to meet it, watched as the small shuttle landed in one of their open hangars. It had been _years_ since he'd seen Revan, since they'd disappeared into the depths of space. They'd left him with instructions, and a clearance code neither of them were sure they'd ever get to use; if this was a mission Revan would even return from.

And yet.

The door to the shuttle opened and a blue hand gripped the side, sending the world into sharp focus for Canderous. _Revan?_ he thought, stunned into stillness, _is it really you?_ Then, a small twi'lek ducked out of the shuttle, and he blinked, staring as they jumped down off the side of the ramp to the duracrete floor: A small blue twi'lek _child_ , skin dotted in pale blotches of a peachy colour.

"Huh," Canderous said. 

The child looked up at him, mouth falling open as they gave him a quick up and down. Then, they took a few steps towards him, digging into their pocket. After a moment, they pulled out a holorecording. "This is for you," they said, staring up at Canderous.

Canderous took the holorecording absently, still staring at the child. "What's your name?"

"Zekkandra Ordo," the child said, and Canderous gave a startled laugh. _Ordo, huh._

"Is that so." He glanced down at the holorecording in his hand. _All right, Revan. I think some explanations are in order._

* * *

He decided to take Zekkandra to stay with some of the other Mandalorian children for the moment, their quiet awe wearing off as they crossed the camp. They were full of questions and observations in a way that Canderous imagined Revan must have been as a child, an outer expression of the inside of Revan's inquisitive mind.

"Is this your whole clan?" Zekkandra asked, head swiveling around as they passed clusters of Mandalorians: talking, fighting, training. At this time of day most of them were outdoors, save a few mechanics and those watching the monitors.

"More or less," Canderous said. "A few groups are out on patrol."

Zekkandra glanced around the wide open space, flat and grassy. "It's so empty."

"We're still rebuilding," Canderous said. "We intend to fill the space."

They passed a group of sparring Mandalorians, one man shouting direction from the side. Zekkandra pointed at a pair fighting with only their fists. "Why don't they have weapons?"

"A weapon is only an extension of your body," Canderous said, unholstering his blaster; he held it up so they could see, running a hand down his arm and along the barrel of the heavy blaster. "Adding an extra piece won't help if you don't know how to use what's already there. And sometimes, it's all you've got." He replaced it on his back. "Your body is your first and best weapon."

 _"Buir_ says things like that sometimes," Zekkandra said, the Mando'a word oddly casual in their mouth. There was a hint of outer rim accent to it, but the pronunciation was good. _My parent._ He wondered how much Mando'a Revan had taught them.

"The Jedi have been known to have _some_ common sense, now and then," Canderous said dryly. And Revan was more than a Jedi.

They stopped outside a smaller building, Canderous stopping to exchange a quiet word with one of the instructors. "I should be back in less than an hour, alright?" he said to Zekkandra, tapping the pocket where he'd put the holorecording, and Zekkandra gave him a solemn nod. "That's Ilod; she can answer any questions you have," he said, mouth twitching up on one side as he imagined the steady stream of questions he was leaving her to.

 _That'll be you pretty soon,_ he reminded himself. It was just like Revan to leave him with such an inescapable reminder of vir. As if he could forget about vir without a miniature Revan to haunt him. _Self-centred ass,_ he thought with amusement. Then: _I think I'm gonna like this kid._

* * *

He sat down at a table in a sealed room, placing the holocrecording in front of him. It flickered to life, a blue figure appearing in front of him, blue as Revan's lekku. Blue as their child.

"It's been a long time, Canderous," the recording said: Revan—Ahsalin, her arms crossed in front of her like she was leaning on a table, or a countertop. Somewhere in the Hawk, he imagined, a cluttered bench in the garage. "You'd better still be waiting for me, out there, or there's a very real chance you're going to shoot my kid out of the atmosphere before you get a chance to meet them." Canderous snorted. "Our kid," Ahsalin amended. "Yours."

"I wouldn't be _hearing_ this if I had," Canderous muttered, just as Ahsalin said "I know, I know, if you damn well shot them down, this recording doesn't matter." Ahsalin ran a hand down nir face with a grimace. "I'm rambling. There's not many people to talk to, out in the unknown regions. It's not a place to raise a child.

"I could have sent them to you earlier. Guess I should have; they deserve to get to know their Mandalorian side, to actually live with their people. But after so many times saving the fuckin' galaxy, I think the universe owes me a little time. I just... I wanted more time with them, to watch them grow up. The Force always seems to have other plans for me.

"So now you get the pleasure. Zekkandra's a bright kid; they picked up Ryl pretty quickly—don't let them lose it," Ahsalin added with a pointed look, "and I taught them a bit of Mando'a, nothing on what you could, but it's something. We've started some hand to hand combat, and they know how to use a vibrosword, unjam a blaster, all that kind of thing. And... they're force sensitive." Xe bit xir lip, glanced behind xir before continuing. "Strong, too, though what else would you expect from _my_ kid," xe said with a proud smile. "Just, make sure they keep it under control, meditate, do the exercises I taught them. And let them talk to that force sensitive Mandalorian you've got hidden in that camp of yours, the one you think I don't know about," she added.

Canderous grinned. "Can't keep anything from you, huh."

"The Force is a bitch on the best of days," Ahsalin said dryly. "Don't let them go it alone."

There was a faint noise in the background of the recording; Ahsalin turned, staring at something Canderous couldn't see. "Almost done!" ey called, turning back to face Canderous. "What else. Oh, right," ey said, lifting eir head. "Timeframe. I won't be disappearing indefinitely, this time—I think we're getting close. Nothing I can discuss in an unsecured message like this, but it should only be a few years now. It's almost over," ey said, with a look of weary resolve.

"So." Ahsalin cleared his throat, crossed his hands in front of him. "Take care of the kid. I expect to come back to a proper Mandalorian. And if I don't come back... talk to Carth and Bastila. They have each have a third of an encryption for a message for the lot of you, though they don't know it. The third part is in here," he said, leaning forward to tap on what presumably was the recording device in front of him; the image shook. "Don't lose it."

They stood up and reached forward, hand growing to dwarf the image. Then, they hesitated, a sliver of their face visible as their eyes flickered down to just above where Canderous watched them. They gave him a wry smile. "Good luck." 

Then, the image flickered to nothing.


End file.
